Key takeaways
- Since 1 July 2025, every private-sector expat worker needs employer-approved exit permission just to leave Kuwait, temporarily or permanently, filed through the Sahel app. Human Rights Watch has called for the rule to be reversed, warning it can trap workers in abusive jobs.
- Your residency is tied to Article 18 if you work for a private company. Article 20 covers domestic workers, Article 19 is for business investors, and Article 22 covers sponsored dependants. These are often confused in general guides.
- Moving to a new employer within your first three years generally needs your current employer’s consent and a transfer fee, reported at KWD 300 from 2024 and possibly reduced to KWD 150 under a later resolution that was not independently confirmed. After three continuous years with the same employer, consent is no longer required.
- A residency overhaul effective 23 December 2025 roughly doubled or introduced new fees across the system: annual residency, dependant visas, extended-family sponsorship, and a new self-sponsored residency category.
- The minimum salary to sponsor a spouse or children is KWD 800 a month, and since January 2024 the sponsor must also hold a university degree that matches their job in Kuwait.
- “Visa trading,” where a sponsor obtains work permits and sells them rather than genuinely hiring, is a long-running Kuwait-specific scam. Several 2026 fraud rings targeting jobseekers abroad have been shut down.
Kuwait’s system has moved in two directions at once over the past two years: PAM scrapped its old hiring-quota system in 2024 to make legal recruitment easier for employers, while the government simultaneously tightened exit permits, dependant sponsorship, and a wide range of fees. Both threads matter to anyone considering a Kuwaiti job offer, and this article covers both.
The exit permit rule you need to know about first
Before anything else: since 1 July 2025, you need your employer’s approval to leave Kuwait at all, whether you are going on holiday or leaving for good. The requirement is filed through the Sahel app on the worker’s side and the Sahel-Business app or PAM’s Ashal portal on the employer’s side, and the system checks that the employer and worker records match before issuing permission. The Kuwaiti authorities describe the purpose as regulating departures and protecting the rights of both sides.
Human Rights Watch disagrees sharply. In a statement issued shortly before the rule took effect, the organisation said it “enables employers to trap workers in abusive situations” and called for its immediate reversal. Four other Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain) already had some version of exit control in place before Kuwait introduced this one; the UAE does not.
What this means practically: an employer who wants to pressure you, whether over an unresolved pay dispute or simply to delay your departure, now has a formal checkpoint to withhold approval at. If you are negotiating a job offer, ask directly how exit approval works in practice at that company, since the rule is too new for a long track record.
Getting the numbering right: which Article applies to you
General guides about Kuwait visas often get this wrong, so it is worth being precise. Kuwaiti residency law organises visas by article number, and the one that matters for almost everyone reading this is Article 18.
- Article 18 covers private-sector employment. This is the standard work permit for someone hired by a Kuwaiti company, and it is what the rest of this article is about.
- Article 17 covers government-sector employment.
- Article 19 is not a domestic-worker category, despite sometimes being described that way. It covers foreign partners in a Kuwaiti commercial business with a minimum KWD 100,000 capital share, administered through the Ministry of Commerce.
- Article 20 covers domestic and household workers, commonly called “Visa 20.” A worker moving from Visa 20 into a private-sector Article 18 role needs at least one year of residency with their current sponsor, that sponsor’s approval, and a transfer fee.
- Article 21 is a longer-term investor residency of up to 15 years under Kuwait’s foreign direct investment law, administered by the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority.
- Article 22 covers sponsored dependants, spouses and children, and carries the salary and qualification thresholds described below.
- Article 25 covers property owners, with a renewable 10-year residency.
- Article 27 covers children of Kuwaiti women, also on a 10-year renewal basis.
No official Public Authority for Manpower page confirming this exact numbering was accessible while researching this article, since manpower.gov.kw blocked automated access. The breakdown above is consistent across press sources and a Kuwait Times explainer, but if your situation is unusual, confirm the article your visa falls under directly with your employer or PAM.
The process, and where the detail runs out
The sequence below is reconstructed from relocation-industry guides, since no official step-by-step procedure from PAM or the Ministry of Interior was accessible during research. Treat it as a reasonable outline rather than a verbatim government process.
- The employer, holding a valid commercial licence and PAM-approved hiring capacity, files a work permit application through PAM’s Ashal portal.
- PAM approves the permit, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwards a copy to the Kuwaiti embassy in your home country.
- You complete a medical examination at an approved clinic in your home country before travelling.
- You visit the Kuwaiti embassy or consulate to have the work visa stamped into your passport.
- On arrival, you are fingerprinted and undergo a second, confirmatory medical examination at a Kuwait Ministry of Health centre. Commercial guides describe a two-month window from entry to begin the residency process, though this specific figure was not confirmed against an official source.
- Once the residence permit is issued, you apply for your Civil ID, the national identity and residency card, through Kuwait’s population registry authority.
No source, official or commercial, gave a reliable total timeframe for this sequence. Relocation guides describe four to eight weeks, but at least one of those sources flagged that figure as its own estimate rather than an official one, so treat it as a rough planning assumption rather than a promise.
Documents
No official PAM checklist was accessible, so the following combines what relocation guides describe, which should be treated as indicative:
- a passport with at least two years of remaining validity for a private-sector application
- an attested educational certificate
- two passport photographs
- a police clearance certificate from your home country
- a medical fitness certificate from an approved clinic in your home country
- a health insurance certificate
- after arrival, a separate “freedom from prevailing diseases” certificate issued by a Kuwait Ministry of Health examination centre, which is a second, in-country medical step rather than a repeat of the pre-departure one
One source noted a declaration or undertaking letter as a specific requirement for Egyptian applicants, which was not corroborated elsewhere and should be confirmed with your employer if it applies to you.
The medical examination
Kuwait’s e-government service for foreign worker medical checks describes screening for HIV, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis, and a parasitic infection likely referring to filariasis, though the exact English terminology on the official page was unclear and worth confirming with the clinic directly. The process involves attending a designated examination centre, a chest X-ray referred to a tuberculosis control unit, paying fees, and receiving a certificate confirming you are free of the relevant diseases. The fee includes a fixed KWD 10 stamp charge plus additional variable fees of an amount not stated on the official page. No timeframe for receiving the certificate was given.
This in-country exam is separate from, and comes after, the pre-departure medical most workers complete at an approved clinic in their home country before the visa is stamped.
What it costs
Kuwait’s fees have moved substantially and in ways that are genuinely difficult to reconcile across sources, so the figures below are presented with their dates rather than as one settled table.
From 1 June 2024, when PAM abolished its old nationality-based hiring quota system, a new work permit carried a flat fee of KWD 150, and transferring a worker to a new employer within the first three years, with the current employer’s consent, carried a fee of KWD 300.
A later commercial legal source, reviewed in mid-2026 but not independently corroborated by press or an official page, describes the transfer fee as having dropped to a flat KWD 150 under a subsequent ministerial resolution, alongside a rule freezing the worker’s job title during a transfer. This conflicts with the 2024 figure above. If a transfer fee matters to your decision, confirm the live amount through PAM’s Ashal portal rather than relying on either figure here.
From 23 December 2025, a broad residency overhaul under Ministerial Resolution No. 2249/2025 changed a wide range of fees at once:
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Annual residency renewal (standard worker) | KWD 20 a year, up from KWD 10 |
| New self-sponsored residency category | Reported as both KWD 500 a year and KWD 20 a year in different sources; unresolved |
| Dependant annual fee, standard worker | KWD 20 per dependant |
| Dependant annual fee, investor or religious worker | KWD 40, per one source |
| Dependant annual fee, property owner | KWD 100, per one source; a second source assigns KWD 100 to the self-sponsored category instead |
| Extended family sponsorship (parents, siblings) | KWD 300 a year, up from KWD 200 |
| Visit visa, all categories | A flat KWD 10, valid three months |
| Domestic helper permit, additional helpers | KWD 50 to 500 or more a year depending on household size |
Two of these figures are directly contradictory between the sources available during research: the self-sponsored category’s annual fee, and which category pays the KWD 100 dependant rate. Both conflicts are left unresolved here rather than guessed at. Confirm current figures against the Ministry of Interior’s gazette notice or PAM before relying on any of them.
Separately confirmed, for workers aged 60 and over renewing a work permit: a mandatory health insurance fee of KWD 500 a year plus a KWD 250 a year administrative fee, approved around early 2022, with coverage up to KWD 10,000 a year including KWD 500 for dental work. Husbands and children of Kuwaiti women, Palestinian nationals, and people born in Kuwait are exempt. No source confirmed whether a broader, universal health insurance mandate applies to private-sector workers of all ages; commercial checklists list a health insurance certificate as a standard document, but this was not corroborated by an official page.
Your contract: probation and notice
Kuwait’s Private Sector Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 governs employment contracts, which can be fixed-term or indefinite. A fixed-term contract ends automatically on its stated date unless it is renewable; an indefinite contract continues until properly terminated. Probation is commonly described as a maximum of 100 working days, and a worker cannot be placed on probation more than once for the same role with the same employer, though the specific article number for this was not located in the sources available. Notice for an indefinite contract is commonly cited at three months unless the contract specifies otherwise, and notice must be given in writing, on paper or by email; a legal columnist writing for Kuwait Times was explicit that a text message or messaging app notice does not count.
Changing employers
The structure that governs most workers is a three-year threshold. Within the first three years of your residency with a given sponsor, transferring to a new employer generally needs your current employer’s consent and a transfer fee (see costs above for the disputed amount). After three continuous years with the same employer, a transfer under Administrative Decision No. 842 of 2015 no longer needs that consent.
PAM can waive the consent requirement before the three-year mark where a worker can show evidence of unpaid wages or contract violations, filed through the Ashal portal. Domestic workers moving from Article 20 into a private-sector Article 18 role face a separate rule: at least one year of residency with their current sponsor, that sponsor’s approval, and a fee combining a flat KWD 50 charge plus KWD 10 for each additional year of service. A temporary two-month window in mid-2024 let a large number of domestic workers move into private-sector roles outside these normal conditions, but that was a one-off measure, not a standing rule.
Remember that the three-year transfer structure and the 2025 exit permit requirement are two separate layers. Even once you are free to transfer without your current employer’s consent, you still need exit approval to physically leave the country if your move involves travel, and your current employer is one of the parties whose system record has to match for that approval to go through.
Gratuity
Kuwaiti sources give differing figures for end-of-service calculations beyond the first five years, and this is worth flagging rather than stating as settled. For service under five years, both sources agree on 15 days’ pay for each year served. Beyond five years, one legal commentary describes 30 days’ pay per year for service between five and ten years, capped at a total of one and a half years’ salary, with a separate, lower scale for a worker who resigns rather than being terminated. A second, commercial compliance source instead describes a flat one month’s salary per year of service after the five-year mark, with no stated cap. Confirm which calculation applies to your contract directly, since the difference compounds significantly over a long tenure.
Bringing family to Kuwait
The minimum sponsor salary to bring a spouse or children under Article 22 is KWD 800 a month, raised from KWD 500 in September 2022. Since January 2024, a further condition applies: the sponsor must hold a university degree, and their job in Kuwait must match that qualification. Kuwaiti authorities have described the combined policy as aimed at attracting more highly qualified residents while reducing overall dependant numbers, and reporting has described a four-figure volume of rejected family-visa applications under the tightened rules, though the exact count was not independently verified for this article. No source found any easing or reversal of these requirements since 2024; every dated change has tightened the rules further. The December 2025 fee changes (see costs above) layer additional annual charges on top of the salary and degree conditions, so a family move to Kuwait now carries both an eligibility bar and a higher recurring cost than it did three years ago.
Leaving Kuwait, for a trip or for good
As covered above, since 1 July 2025 every private-sector expat needs employer-approved exit permission to leave Kuwait at all, filed through the Sahel system. Separately and for longer, an Article 18 residence permit is automatically cancelled if the holder stays outside Kuwait for six consecutive months, a rule phased in from November 2022. No detailed, official step-by-step for a permanent final exit was available during research beyond the fee information above, so ask your employer directly what the cancellation process involves if you are planning to leave Kuwait for good.
Where to complain
Since a 2013 restructuring, the Public Authority for Manpower, not the old Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, handles private-sector labour disputes, employment regulation and inspection. You can file through PAM’s own portal or the Sahel app without needing a lawyer. A commercial legal guide describes mandatory free conciliation through PAM’s Labour Relations Department before a case can reach Labour Court, typically taking three to four weeks, with workers exempt from court fees if the case proceeds that far. This was not independently confirmed by an official PAM page. Press reporting on an unpaid-wages case involving government security guards found that PAM did intervene successfully once the case drew public attention on social media, a resolution one report described as unusually quick, which suggests that persistence and documentation matter if a complaint does not move fast through ordinary channels.
Recognising a scam
Kuwait has a specific, long-running scam pattern worth knowing by name: visa trading, where a company obtains work permits through PAM and then sells them to jobseekers rather than genuinely hiring anyone, sometimes leaving the buyer without real employment at all. The 2024 abolition of the old hiring-quota system was explicitly intended to reduce the incentive for this practice.
A newer pattern has targeted jobseekers abroad, particularly in India, through social media and messaging apps: fraudsters promise guaranteed, fast-tracked Kuwaiti visas, demand large upfront payments through informal digital transfers, and deliver fake or unverifiable documents. In February 2026, a multinational investigation involving India’s Central Bureau of Investigation and authorities in several other countries, including Kuwait, arrested a key operative, raided dozens of locations, and shut down fraudulent websites impersonating Kuwait’s official e-services. The warning signs are consistent with scams elsewhere in the Gulf: guaranteed or instant approval claims, informal payment channels, poorly made fake websites, and pressure to act quickly. Verify any Kuwaiti work permit or visa document through PAM’s Ashal portal or Kuwait’s official e-government channels before paying anyone.
The expat numbers debate
Kuwait has discussed reducing its expatriate population for years, and it is worth understanding the actual state of that debate rather than the headlines about it. A law requiring the government to take measures to reduce the number of expats not needed in the country passed its final reading in October 2020, but notably without a specific numeric target or timeline attached. An earlier parliamentary push for a mandated phased cut over five years, and a nationality-based quota system, were both removed from the final bill after government objection. The law instead gives the Cabinet discretion to issue annual measures and report progress to the National Assembly.
Headlines describing various proposals, including one suggesting a cut of 1.5 million expats over seven years, have recurred over several years without translating into an enacted hard cap as of the most recent sourcing available for this article. In some tension with that rhetoric, the 2024 abolition of the hiring-quota system actually gave employers more flexibility to recruit foreign workers, not less. The clearest, most consistently enacted lever for managing expatriate numbers in practice has been the repeated tightening of dependant and family sponsorship rules in 2022, 2024, and 2025, rather than any direct cap on workers themselves. If population policy affects your planning, this is a fast-moving area of Kuwaiti politics and worth checking against recent Kuwait Times or Arab Times coverage rather than this article alone.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need permission to leave Kuwait?
Yes, since 1 July 2025, every private-sector expat worker needs employer-approved exit permission for any departure, temporary or permanent, filed through the Sahel app.
Can I change employer without my current employer’s consent?
Generally only after three continuous years with the same employer, under Administrative Decision No. 842 of 2015. Before that, you typically need their consent and a transfer fee, except where PAM waives the requirement for unpaid wages or contract violations.
What salary do I need to sponsor my family?
KWD 800 a month, and since January 2024 you also need a university degree that matches your job in Kuwait.
Is Kuwait really planning to reduce its expat population by a set number?
A 2020 law requires the government to take unspecified measures to reduce unneeded expat numbers, but it carries no numeric target. Specific large-scale reduction figures reported in the press have not translated into an enacted hard cap as far as this research could confirm.
What is visa trading?
A Kuwait-specific scam pattern where a sponsor obtains work permits and sells them rather than genuinely recruiting. It is a long-documented problem that 2024 hiring-quota reforms were partly designed to reduce.
